Photo: 100 block of Delores Court
Ventura County – Sometimes just being a cop on the beat can lead to the discovery of illegal activity far more serious than what might, at first blush, be suspected.
Such was the case on the afternoon of November 11th, when uniformed patrol officers of the Oxnard Police Department were called upon to visit a vacant house in the 100 block of Delores Court. They’d been summoned there by neighbors who suspected that squatters were occupying the premises without the permission or knowledge of the property owner.
According to Oxnard Police Department spokesman Cdr. Kevin Baysinger, the cops reporting to the scene “located two females inside of a locked room” of the residence. Inside the room with the ladies were “multiple amounts of methamphetamine” suspected to be in the possession of 35-year-old Melissa Estrella, a probationer “with search terms.” Under the terms of her probation, the officers then conducted a search of Estrella’s backpack and discovered a “small caliber handgun which had previously been reported as stolen.”
Estrella was taken into custody and transported to Ventura County Jail, where she was booked on charges of possessing a controlled substance, possessing drug paraphernalia, and multiple firearms violations. She remains in custody on a no-bail hold. Her companion at the time of her arrest was cited for “a drug offense” and released.
